Diners enter into a covered garden-like patio that's used for seating year-round, and then into the back dining room with an open kitchen at one end and a bar on the other. The intricate preparations capitalize on the local bounty with dishes like salt-baked celery root with amaranth, almond and fresh curds; or a hen with smoked oyster relish and green garlic puree.

The lobster came with persimmons and an avocado-and-parsnip puree, a blanket of sweet tastes over the lush crustacean meat. Some dishes aren't quite what they're called. Sturgeon, Celery, Matsutake wasn't considered a soup, but with so many moist ingredients, it appeared to be one. Cod also had brown butter, lots of it, a discernible sauce.

Outdoor lights hang romantically from strings slung overhead, and the connection is delightfully blurred between the interior seating and the outdoor courtyard's trickling water feature and Paxton Gate plant life.